Should My AC Vent Be Open or Closed?

The short answer is yes, your A/C vents need to constantly be open.

The reason for this is the fact that closing AC vents:

  • Increases power bills
  • Reducing the airflow dramatically
  • Damages your Air Conditioning system

While shutting vents in your house may look like it makes sense, particularly in spaces you don’t use during summertime, you’ll locate over time that you’re causing even more harm than great. Allow’s to take a more detailed check out all of those troubles.

Closing AC Vents Will Increase Your Electric Expenses

You in fact enhance the quantity of conditioned air that gets away from air duct leaks if you shut your Air Conditioner vents.

Let us explain, your AC pushes out the cool, conditioned air through your ductwork as well as right into your home. When you close a vent, it boosts the pressure inside the air ducts. Because of this, there is more air pressure inside all the ducts system, the extra air gets pushed out of small leaks in your ductwork.

Are you probably thinking that your home’s ductwork has openings or fractures for air to leak out of the right? Think again. The typical residence currently loses anywhere from 20% to 30% of conditioned air to duct leakages. If you keep the AC vents closed, prepare yourself for higher energy bills.

On the other side, if you have dumpers in your AC you can learn how to adjust damper in air duct in every room instead of closing the vents manually.

Closing AC Vents Makes You Less Comfy

So after we explain that closing the AC air vents will increase the air pressure in your ductwork. Now, why it’s so bad for your HVAC system?

The high air pressure causes your Air Conditioner’s blower motor to function slower and also decreases the airflow that comes out of the ductwork, leaving you less comfy.

Now, to be honest, you’ll just have this issue only if you have a “PSC” blower motor. Otherwise, you’ll just see your energy bill goes up.

Here are the types of blower motors you can have in your home:

“PSC” blower motor: If you have this type of blower it only blows at a specific speed and can not increase the power of the air it blows because of the pressure from shut vents. Instead, they just slow down and impact less air. So, if you have a PSC blower motor and you lose some of your AC vents, you’ll obtain less cool air from vents that are still open.

“ECM” blower motor: These blowers can readjust their rate according to the degree of the job required. So, no, closing vents when you have an ECM blower electric motor won’t make you less comfy, however, it will certainly raise your energy prices since your blower motor will certainly be functioning tougher as well as using more energy to get rid of the included pressure inside your ductwork.

Closing A/C Vents Damage Your Air Conditioning System

PSC blower will produce less cool air if your Ac vents are closed and because of that less airflow in your AC system. The evaporator coils can freeze over and also at some point ruin your compressor. This repair can cost you over $3000.

The Air Conditioner’s evaporator coils in your home are filled with cold, cool refrigerants that suck in the heat and from the air inside your home. But, if there is less hot air in your system than cold air the temperature will drop very fast which will cause the system to freeze. This will eventually will damage the compressor and can even destroy it.

don’t forget that one more thing that can cause the high air pressure in your ac vents and ductwork is a dirty air duct, if your ducts are clogged the AC will work hard but your airflow in your home will be very low. We recommend doing residential HVAC duct cleaning twice a year to clean the AC blower motor and duct system.

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